Game Informer

Lost Judgment, the newest game from Yakuza developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and the second in its Judgment spin-off franchise, is out next week, so read our review and watch our episode of New Gameplay Today. To keep the Judgment train rolling, ahead of the game's release, we're running down everything we know about the game, from its story, themes, gameplay, and setting. 

The battle royale is all the rage in shooters and it has now invaded the FMV space. Meet Bloodshore, an upcoming interactive movie from the makers of The Complex that lets players steer a cinematic tale of colorful combatants fighting to survive a televised deathmatch.

You control a washed-up actor named Nick who competes in the latest season of Kill/Stream. This barbaric yet popular reality show takes place on The Island, a battlefield hosting a deathmatch between a range of personalities, from entertainers to inmates. Winning the game rewards a hefty cash prize, one that could be the answer to all of Nick’s financial and personal woes. 

Winning is easier said than done because you'll have to outlast 50 combatants vying for the same prize. Surviving means having to form alliances with some of these killers (would-be or otherwise), but who do you team up with and who do snuff out? That's up to you to decide, and your choices create branching paths that lead to multiple endings. Playthroughs take between 60-90 minutes to complete, and Bloodshore features 8 hours of footage. 

Sure, Bloodshore looks undeniably cheesy, but if you’re an FMV fan or just looking to enjoy a novel method of absorbing a dumb action flick, you can pick it up this November on PlayStation and Xbox consoles, Switch, PC, iOS, and Android. 

If you haven’t played Tales of Arise and have a fondness for JRPGs, then you need to secure a copy as soon as possible. Besides, over one million other people have already done so. More than that, Tales of Arise is the fastest game in the franchise to surpass one million copies sold - a feat that it wholeheartedly deserves considering its recent critical success. 

『テイルズ オブ アライズ』がシリーズ史上最速のスピードで世界累計出荷本数が100万本突破！

アートディレクター 岩本稔の記念イラストも公開。#TOARISE #テイルズ

https://t.co/jLyNSz3QWY pic.twitter.com/YWmBMMphId

Delays can be incredibly beneficial to a dev team, giving the creators more time to release a polished product that they’re proud of. Naturally, the announcements can feel like a letdown for avid fans of a particular game. So, it’s always nice when big-budget titles come through the development process relatively unscathed. One such game – Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy – is on track to be ready for shipping when it launches worldwide next month. The sci-fi RPG adventure has officially gone gold.

We're thrilled to announce that #GOTGgame has gone gold! October 26 here we come 🤘 #YouGotThis pic.twitter.com/opujnRDLNT

(Content warning for mentions of sexual assault)

Undertale, a 2D RPG from 2015, remains one of the most definitive and revolutionary indie titles to grace the contemporary scene, rising to similar heights as other popular pixel-art games like Stardew Valley and Terraria. Since Undertale’s release and subsequent victory lap, Developer Toby Fox released the first chapter in his highly anticipated semi-sequel, Deltarune. Deltarune is a top-down RPG with puzzles, bullet hell sequences, and classic Final Fantasy-inspired turn-based combat. Chapter 1 launched in 2018, and in a surprise announcement, Fox unveiled the release date for Chapter 2 last night – the game drops this week; tomorrow, in fact. 

See you soon. https://t.co/Z19tzGlRmW pic.twitter.com/hKU0st0LCb

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is shaping up to be an intriguing game for old and new fans of the slime-ridden television network. This multiplayer platform fighting game bringing together all kinds of characters from the Nickelodeon universe. Michelangelo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Invader Zim, Cat Dog, Lucy Loud, Nigel Thornberry, and the eclectic list goes on and on. Earlier today, we debuted a first look at Patrick Star's grapple-heavy moveset, and this week we had the opportunity to pick the brain of Joel Nyström, CEO of developer Ludosity.

How did the team decide which characters would be a good fit for the roster with decades-worth of Nickelodeon shows to choose from?

It was a joint effort between Ludosity and GameMill, where we all pushed for our own favorites and wants until we got to a lineup we could all get behind. From our side, we wanted fun characters from the shows we liked, which is why we have some more unlikely picks like Nigel Thornberry. 

Because it’s called “Nickelodeon” and not “Nicktoons,” can we expect any live-action Nickelodeon characters to show up? Will players see any All That characters or something from Are You Afraid of the Dark?

There are no live-action characters in our base lineup, and we are currently not looking at any for future characters either. You never know, but for now, we are focusing on cartoon characters. It fits in with the rest of the roster better, and we feel like we can go a little wilder in the moveset with them.

Developer Firaxis Games has created a name for itself in the video game industry by fostering brilliant tactical experiences in the XCOM games. Instead of following suit with a proper sequel, though, the lauded developer is setting its sights on one of the biggest brands to ever exist on planet earth.

Marvel's Midnight Suns finds Firaxis jumping into a whole new world of superheroes, card battles, and a distinct lack of cover. The new title embraces what the team exemplified with its previous work while also adding in new systems and a whole RPG story that will bring the title to more players without sacrificing the excellent gameplay the studio is known for.

That doesn't mean, however, XCOM fans will be left out in the cold. Join us for an exclusive chat with Jake Solomon, creative director at Firaxis Games, as we discuss why the studios' latest title will feel right at home for those who love their time tactically blasting aliens. That's not all, though. Solomon and the team understand Marvel's Midnight Suns will also appeal to those just entering the tactics genre, and we spend some time discussing how the RPG will be for them as well!

With 2021 being a turbulent year full of development woes and delays, it’s not too surprising when we hear of another game slipping from the intended release date. Many studios have recently decided to move their efforts into a 2022 release like Dying Light 2 and Lost Ark. We just got word of another big delay from the Battlefield 2042 team, but it's luckily only shifting the launch date from October to November 19.

An update from the Battlefield team pic.twitter.com/K53VNM2tTz

— Battlefield (@Battlefield) September 15, 2021

Citing challenges faced developing the game during the pandemic, EA, Dice, and the other Battlefield teams have announced via a Twitter announcement that Battlefield 2042 will take a bit longer but will be out this year. Here’s the full statement:

With all the focus on Back 4 Blood’s four-player cooperative action, it’s easy to forget that there’s a story propelling the zombie-infected adventure. A new trailer touches on some of the game’s narrative beats before it launches on October 12. 

The video doesn't give away a ton of plot details but it does introduce players to “Mom”, the foul-mouthed leader of the eight Cleaners they'll control. She may getting on in years but she’s clearly no pushover, and that’s good. She’s got to wrangle a group of disparate personalities from different backgrounds all united under one goal: take back a world overrun by monsters. The video also touches on the emergence and subsequent spread of the Devil Worm, the mysterious parasite responsible for transforming most of the population into mindless, flesh-eating zombies.

Console developers are able to update modern hardware through firmware updates, adding new features and fixing other user problems. This last week, both Nintendo and Sony released firmware updates that resolved various user issues for each console. 

The Nintendo Switch received a firmware update that enabled Bluetooth connectivity for the four-year-old system, so you can finally use your Apple AirPods with the Switch. Better late than never. 

Meanwhile, Sony's new PlayStation 5 update offers a variety of quality-of-life changes. For example, your system library now clearly distinguishes between PlayStation 5 and 4 versions of the same game. You can now customize the Control Center menu. And, maybe most importantly, the update enables internal storage expansion, meaning PS5 owners can install their own SSD into the console as a way to expand the system's internal storage. 

Not only does Spongebob’s best friend Patrick Star have his own show now, but he’s also the star of the newest character breakdown for Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. We have the exclusive first look at Patrick in action.

Patrick’s playstyle is unlike others we’ve seen from the cast so far. He’s the game’s equivalent to a grappler, with all his special attacks resulting in grabbing and slamming his opponents to the ground. Unleashing his neutral special allows for additional side-to-side slams (think what Hulk did to Loki in The Avengers) if you hammer on the button. Using Patrick’s up special, called “I Am Already A Star,” propels the shining starfish in whichever direction you’d like, giving the character some surprising mobility. As a bonus, if an opponent finds themselves in Patrick’s path during this move, they’ll be grabbed and tossed aside. Rounding out the special attacks is possibly Patrick’s most dangerous move, the down special “Hugdriver.” Patrick captures a character and jumps forward to deliver a devastating powerbomb. However, crafty players can use this move to careen both characters right off the stage for a strategic double KO.

In February, it was announced that a live-action Twisted Metal TV show was in the works by Sony Pictures Television and PlayStation Productions. The action-comedy series based PlayStation’s iconic vehicular combat franchise seems to have found its star in one Anthony Mackie, who will portray a character known only as John Doe.

Fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe know Mackie best for his portrayal as the superhero Sam Wilson/Falcon in several film installments (including an upcoming 4th Captain America movie) and as the star of the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Mackie’s film credits also include The Woman in the Window, Synchronic, and Pain & Gain. 

Head of PlayStation Productions Asad Qizilbash tells Deadline that “We’re thrilled to have Anthony Mackie on board. His ability to blend comedy, action and drama is perfect for the Twisted world we’re creating.”

Gamemill Entertainment has released a video showcasing the abilities of one of the fighters in the game from the Spongebob Squarepants universe, Sandy Cheeks! If you're familiar with the squirrel scientist from Texas, she's here to kick some other licensed tail in Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. The brawl arrives this fall, but you can take an extensive look at Sandy Cheeks' moveset in this video below. Many comparisons to Super Smash. Bros are inevitable here, including ones related to basic and special abilities. All we need are some wavedashing Nicktoons in this world...

What do you think of the Sandy showcase? Do you get into each and every attack and its uses and situations for counterplay? Are you ready to brawl with Invader Zim, Spongebob Squarepants, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Let us know in the comments!

Sony has pulled the curtain back on a midnight black version of its Pulse 3D wireless headset. The new color matches perfectly with the black DualSense controller the company announced in May. Does this mean Sony is inching closer to announcing an all-black PlayStation 5? It probably won't happen anytime soon, but this is another step towards the dark side. 

As you can see in the trailer below, it is indeed a black version of the PS5’s proprietary headset. There are no differences in functionality; it still outputs 3D audio, features noise-canceling microphones, and runs on a rechargeable battery. It just collects dirt and grime less obviously. It hits stores on October 22, and you can pre-order it now for $99.99. 

Sonic Colors: Ultimate might be a Great Way To Play The 2010 Gem, but recent posts on Twitter have revealed some darker, underlying problems, including seizure-inducing visuals that range from flashing lights to … whatever this is (the link contains footage that is potentially triggering for those with epileptic tendencies). In any case, it was only a matter of time until Sega acknowledged the issues and started working towards a fix. A new patch was recently released targeting these dangerous issues. Sadly, it’s only available on Nintendo Switch, but other platforms – PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC – will get their respective updates in the “near future.” 

Hi everyone – We have deployed a patch for the Nintendo Switch for Sonic Colors: Ultimate. This is the first of several patches (for all platforms!) that will begin rolling out in the near future. Thank you for your patience!

The highly requested feature is finally here. Yesterday, Nintendo released a firmware update that enabled Bluetooth connectivity for the four-year-old Switch. There are restrictions, of course, but now the portable experience has been made even better. Sure, the Switch has a headphone jack but, if you’re like me, you’re probably tired of those pesky wires getting tangled up while on the go. Those issues are now a thing of the past.

The latest #NintendoSwitch update is now available, including the ability to pair Bluetooth devices for audio output.

For more information, including restrictions on some features while using Bluetooth Audio, please visit the support page: https://t.co/vzAB6lZTDu pic.twitter.com/6J5xcDl5kU

Nintendo recently announced it was permanently reducing the price of the standard Switch model in the UK/Europe £279.99/€329.99 to £259.99/€269.99. That’s a nice little drop, the first of its kind since the device launched in 2017, and it led many to hope that a similar price cut was on the way for U.S stores. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case, at least for the foreseeable future. 

Axios reporter Stephen Totilo (as surfaced by Video Games Chronicle) posted a tweet stating that he spoke to Nintendo about the possibility of dropping the Switch price on our shores, with the company saying it has “no plans” to do the same.  

Nintendo tells me yesterday's Switch price drop was just for Europe (and the UK):

“The trade price adjustment is for the European region only. There are no plans to change the Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price for any Nintendo Switch model in the U.S.”

Mid-September is typically when Apple trots out on their (now virtual) stage and reveals the new slate of iOS devices set to go on sale. Like clockwork, the company came through on its yearly cell phone refresh with new devices in the predictably named iPhone 13 lineup, hitting stores next week.

Apple’s various models of the iPhone 13 look a lot like last year’s group of handsets. The baseline products shown today were unsurprisingly the iPhone 13 and 13 Mini. They are all keeping with the sleek design established with the iPhone 12’s sharp angles, glass back, and flat sides.

These upgraded models are equipped with a new processor, the A15 Bionic, which Apple boasts as having a six-core CPU and a 4 Core GPU for “enabling more eye-catching visuals and lighting effects.” 5G components have also had upgrades to support more cellular frequency bands to work with faster data speeds and on more cellular carriers worldwide. Due to the increased efficiency in many components, Apple claims these new devices have longer battery lives than last year’s models.

Alan Wake Remastered is polishing up all of the elements that made the supernatural thriller a cult favorite. Still, one thing that won’t return is its real-world product placement. The game was semi-infamous for displaying billboard ads for companies like Verizon while players used Energizer batteries to replenish Alan’s flashlight, among other forms of branding. That won’t be the case anymore. 

Screen Rant reached out to Remedy, who confirmed that fictional brands are replacing the real-world versions. The reason is due to expiring licenses. The original game launched in 2010, so it’s been a while. Remedy also confirmed that the songs and TV shows remain intact, however. 

Regardless of whether the trucks say Ford or Furd, Alan Wake Remastered launches on October 5. The package includes a modernized version of the original game alongside its two expansions, The Signal and The Writer. The title's eerie presentation and light-focused gameplay shine even brighter at 4K resolution, while Alan's character model is also updated. For superfans, the game even includes commentary from creative director Sam Lake. You can watch the first footage of the game in action here. 

Remember Ren & Stimpy? Of course you do. The totally bizarre and more than a little weird cat and dog combo is coming to Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl this fall. Oddly enough, this makes the second cat and dog combination that make up one playable character, as CatDog is also in the game. Ren and Stimpy are played as one, with the smaller Ren riding on Stimpy.

Their full moveset hasn’t been explored yet, but their reveal trailer contains some curious minutia that Ren & Stimpy fans will immediately recognize, including a kitchen arena that features powdered toast. This makes a lot of sense, considering Powdered Toast Man is in the game too. Check out the reveal trailer below.

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is slated to land on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and PC. Are you going to main Ren & Stimpy? 

Star Wars: Hunters was first announced for Switch during a Nintendo Direct in February, but it’s also coming to Android and iOS. Today’s Apple Event provided an unexpected stage to premiere the first look at gameplay for the free-to-play competitive action title. We also got a look at a new cinematic trailer that provides a decent setup for Hunters' premise. 

Let's start with the fancy trailer, which depicts a chaotic free-for-all between a sith warrior, a bounty hunter, a Wookie, a robotic Jedi, Jawas, among others. These hunters compete in team battles within The Arena, located on planet Vespaara. We don't know anything about these characters individually, but Hunters' narrative occurs after the Empire’s fall in Return of the Jedi and before The Force Awakens. 

Before we get going here, I want to give a huge spoiler warning. If you haven’t seen James Wan’s Malignant yet, you probably shouldn’t be anywhere near this article. In fact, you should be really far away because it contains big spoilers that would ruin your enjoyment of watching the ultra-campy horror flick. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s set the table for how Malignant’s “monster” Gabriel would be a super cool Dead by Daylight killer – but also really hard to pull off, especially due to external game tools like voice chat ruining the possible implementation. Malignant is currently in theaters and available on HBO MAX.

In honor of our Marvel's Midnight Suns cover story this month, we wanted to repromote this list from 2019 of the ten best Marvel-themed visio games. If you’re itching to jump into the role of one of Marvel’s legendary heroes there are a number of great games on the market. We’ve assembled the ultimate list of Marvel games every comic fan should play.

10. X-Men 2: Clone Wars

Genesis • 1995
The X-Men seemed like the biggest superheroes in the ‘90s. Young fans around the country dreamed of being one of Marvel’s merry mutants, and Headgames’ co-op friendly side-scrolling action game helped scratch that itch. Players control Beast, Cyclops, Gambit, Nightcrawler, Psylocke, and Wolverine as they travel across the world on a mission to destroy the Phalanx virus and save everyone from becoming techno-organic slaves. Each hero has their own unique set of powers, which aided them in combat and affects how they traversed the environment, further encouraging replay.

Looking for some 16-bit platforming action? You won’t have to wait too long for Steel Assault, which comes to Switch and PC (Steam) on September 28.  Check out the trailer below for a look at what’s in store for Zenovia Interactive’s upcoming title that’s aiming to deliver an authentic 90’s arcade experience. But wait – the games in that era were fairly unforgiving and ate away at people’s quarter reserves! Have no fear, as Steel Assault comes with a variety of difficulty options, including “retro hard” for those who really want to experience it in arcade platform glory. Check out the release date trailer right here.

While the game was previously announced for PC, it’s great to see that it’s now launching same day and date on the Nintendo Switch. We didn’t have a release date, and now it’s going to be here in around two weeks! Are you looking forward to Steel Assault? Is this your first time seeing the game? Let us know in the comments!

Total War: Warhammer was recently delayed into 2022 from its initial 2021 projected release window. That's not surprising at all these days, given the deluge of delays that the game industry is facing due to multiple factors. Most prominently, COVID-19's impact on production pipelines and almost every aspect of game development is something that the vast majority of industry companies are still dealing with. So, we won't be playing Total War: Warhammer III this year. However, there's a new trailer with plenty of surprises featuring Grand Cathay. You can check it out below and see some really fun/cool stuff coming to the franchise with its third entry.

You can also see our reviews for Total War: Warhammer and Total War: Warhammer II right here. While the shift to the fantastical Warhammer franchise for Total War was initially considered a questionable proposition, the exceptional quality of these games has shown that moving things away from the purely historical was an inspired choice for the longstanding PC franchise. What do you think about the Total War: Warhammer games? 

If you are a subscriber to Xbox Game Pass, you can look forward to 13 new games arriving on the service between now and the beginning of October. Eight of these games hit Game Pass on the day of their release, including the highly anticipated indie game Sable. Subnautica's excellent continuation, Below Zero, will also be available to download.

Starting tomorrow, Flynn: Son of Crimson is the first game to arrive, and is one of the titles that is making its debut. The other game hitting on day one (in addition to Sable) are I Am Fish, SkateBIRD, Aragami 2, Lemnis Gate, Unsighted, and Astria Ascending. This is an impressive and well rounded lineup of games that people can freely try throughout the month.

The full lineup of games arriving on Game Pass are:

PlayStation 5 is about to receive a big firmware update tomorrow with some quality-of-life changes to the user experience. Also coming is the much anticipated enabling of internal storage expansion allowing PS5 owners to install their own SSD to the console. What else in this update? A lot, actually! PlayStation has everything detailed in a blog post, but we’ll go over some of the more considerable changes for you here.

We’ll get to the juicy storage expansion in a bit, but first, a very welcome change is coming to how games are sorted in your library and quick launch. Cross-generation games will now show as separate titles for their respective PlayStation 5 and 4 versions. A console-appropriate logo will appear next to the game’s title, making it clear you have the correct platform. This change is undoubtedly a huge relief to those (like me!) who mistakenly download or launch the PS4 version of a game or fumble through menus to figure out if the correct edition is selected. You’d be surprised how often it happens!

Dying Light 2 Stay Human is slated to be a step up from the first game, which we deemed a fantastic open-world, zombie-slaying experience back in 2015. The second game in the franchise got a bevy of gameplay trailers at Gamescom and a constant rollout of updates over the years. Sadly, delays are a natural part of this industry that can be necessary for various reasons. Sure, it’s deflating for the player, but often dev teams feel the full brunt of it. Today, Techland announced that Dying Light 2 has been delayed to early 2022. CEO Pawel Marchewka provided some context for the major decision in an emailed statement. 

“The team is steadily progressing with the production, and the game is nearing the finish line,” Marchewka states. “The game is complete, and we are currently playtesting it. It is by far the biggest and most ambitious project we’ve ever done. Unfortunately, we’ve realized for us to bring the game to the level we envision, we need more time to polish and optimize it...We are sorry to keep you all waiting a little longer, but we want the game to meet your highest expectations on release, and we don’t want to compromise on this.” You can read the whole statement here:

Breath of the Wild has been out for a little over four years. As one of the definitive open-world RPG experiences of the past decade, the latest chapter in the Legend of Zelda series has redefined game immersion and true sandbox autonomy. Even now, players continue to find new mechanical secrets that lie dormant in the physics system and miscellaneous activities. For instance, a bevy of wild trick shots are still being uploaded to Twitter – Guardians being launched in the air and headshot across the map with arrows or lynels taken down with incredible ease. Yesterday, another exploit was discovered. However, instead of weapons, it relies on food items, spicy peppers, to be exact.

Diablo II: Resurrected arrives later this month on September 23 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, and PC. Today, Blizzard has unveiled the cinematic trailer for the game. Anyone around when the original Diablo II was released knows how revolutionary and impactful the original cinematics in the game were, adding a ton of powerful visuals and flavor to the trek through catacombs, deserts, and jungles.

Prepare for your party the horrors and agony that await you in the early access release of Darkest Dungeon 2. A tweet from the Darkest Dungeon devs at Red Hook Studios has confirmed the in-progress build will hit the Epic Games Store on October 26, just in time for arguably the spookiest holiday of the year.

Darkest Dungeon II (Early Access) is coming to @EpicGames on October 26th, 2021!

Wishlist now: https://t.co/CSbqzrvldU#DarkestDungeon2 pic.twitter.com/LoWOEGgy4e

— Darkest Dungeon (@DarkestDungeon) September 13, 2021

With a change to a roguelite format, Darkest Dungeon 2 will take place on repeated runs through the game. Our PC Editor, Dan Tack, does some great table setting to this sequel, which just so happens to be the intro to a feature he wrote previewing the game and revealing a new character, The Runaway:

If you enjoyed Marvel Studios’ latest superhero flick Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and have been seeking an Xbox Series X, the stars have aligned for you. Microsoft has partnered up with Marvel to release a custom Ten Rings-themed Series X that you can possibly call your own via a new sweepstakes. 

The console comes plastered with art inspired by the film and includes a custom red and black controller modeled after Shang-Chi’s battle suit. It even includes a Marvel Legends Shang-Chi action figure nestled inside of a special pouch. Unfortunately, it does not include ten rings of unfathomable power. The film’s star, actor Simu Liu, shared photos of the console that was sent to him, which I’m sure he’ll be using to play a copious amount of Halo. 

Those looking to enjoy user-created levels in the various LittleBigPlanet games just lost many places to play. Following extensive maintenance in which the servers were brought offline, only LittleBigPlanet 3 functionality for Playstation 4 will continue to have service from now on. The LittleBigPlanet team announced this big change for legacy versions of the games on Twitter this morning.

“Firstly, we would like to apologize for the extended downtime of the LittleBigPlanet server and want to thank you all for your patience whilst we worked on the issue,” began the message from the team. It goes on to say the newest update, 1.27, is available for PlayStation 4 users, but then the bad news broke for anyone not playing on that platform. “Unfortunately, we need to permanently shut down our online services for: LittleBigPlanet, LittleBigPlanet 2, LittleBigPlanet 3 (PS3), and LittleBigPlanet PS Vita.” Why bring down online access for all of these games on older consoles? According to the LBP team, it’s “the best way to protect the LittleBigPlanet community and to help ensure that our online environment stays safe.”

An update on the LittleBigPlanet server and online services: pic.twitter.com/vUrvHcZvIs